Chapter Text
They were only eleven years old first time they met. Jughead wearing his beanie he got from his mom on his birthday the year before school, were looking for an empty wagon to settle in and suddenly, he chose the wagon with the red haired boy in it. The boy looked somehow excited yet lonely, the-eleven-year-old Jughead thought. So why wouldn’t he took his chance to make friends?
He entered the wagon quietly and looked at the ginger.
“Hi,” he said in a lower voice, “Can I sit here?”
“Sure!” the red haired boy exclaimed cheerfully. After a couple of minutes of settling in, he continued.
“I’m Archie.” he said. “Archie Andrews.”
Jughead looked into the brown eyes before him and slightly smiled.
“Jughead Jones.” he answered and, “...the third.” he added bitterly.
The Archie boy seemed a little confused.
“ Jughead? ” he asked. “I’ve heard many weird names in my family but this is even better!”
Jughead laughed at his comment genuinely - a laughter that hadn’t been coming from him in a while. After explaining his family names and not liking it bluntly, Archie didn’t seem to mind it and offered him some Chocolate Frog. Accepting the treat willingly, Jughead thought maybe he could have friends at Hogwarts after all, just like Dumbledore promised.
A little time after, Jughead was laughing so hard that there were tears of joy in his eyes. He really liked the way Archie told about the school they were attending. It was big, it was shiny and it had foods - lots of them, Archie promised and Jughead loved the idea. His dad never had told him that before - maybe the appealing was different for both of them but still - who wouldn’t mention a eleven year old boy about the food?
Their wagon’s door slided and Jughead saw a little blonde head popping up.
“Hello!” the green eyed girl said in a pink dress. Her smile made the boys smile as well as they greeted her. “Can I sit here?” she kindly asked. “My sister is with her friends but I didn’t want to--”
“Come on in!” Archie interrupted her but the girl didn’t seem to mind that. She gratefully accepted the offer and sat down next to Jughead.
“I’m Elizabeth Cooper.” she introduced herself. “But everyone calls me Betty.”
The boys introduced themselves as well and they started to talk about the houses they wanted to be in.
“Both of my parents are Gryffindors.” Archie said proudly. “So am I.”
Betty’s smile cracked a bit as she looked down at her feet.
“What about you, Jughead?” Archie asked. The dark haired boy shrugged as he leaned back to his seat after eating another Chocolate Frog.
“Dad’s a Slytherin, mum’s a Muggle… So i have no idea what the hat is going to think about me.”
“Slytherin?” Archie raised his eyebrows as Betty bit her bottom lip. “My dad says that the Slytherins are a bit--”
“Harsh?” Betty suggested and the boys looked at them. “My whole family is Slytherin.”
Both of the boys looked at each other and tried to swallow their questions.
“What about your sister?” Jughead couldn’t help himself and asked. Betty raised her eyebrows at his question so he went on. “You said you have a sister, right?”
“Oh, yeah, right.” Betty smiled. Her moody phase was all gone after the mention of her sister. “Polly was sorted into Gryffindor two years ago.” She explained with an excited voice. “Mum and dad gone real mad but they got used to it. So maybe I’ll be sorted in a house other than Slytherin, too.”
“What’s bad about Slytherin?” a new voice joined them as the door opened once again. The owner of the question was a raven haired girl with a genuine and curious smile on her face. Daring , one might say.
“Nothing!” Betty explained herself in a rush. “Just not my first choice.”
“Well, it is mine.” The girl answered as she sat next to Archie without an invitation. “My parents are both Slytherin and they were the head students of their times.”
“Good for them.” Jughead murmured as he picked up a book from his mailman bag.
“Veronica Lodge.” The girl said and looked at each of them. “And you guys are..?”
And that was the very first time they were sitting together in their wagon before the sorting ceremony. Even though Jughead was sorted in Ravenclaw, Betty and Archie in Gryffindor and Veronica, not surprisingly, in Slytherin, the quartet remained friends through their many differences in their school years.
- ••
It was only their second year, when they discovered a tiny furry secret about Jughead Jones. He didn’t want to tell them at first but his disappearances were noticeable and if you are a friend of Betty Cooper, you should know better about keeping secrets.
“Where’s Jughead again ?” Betty narrowed her eyes as she scanned the Ravenclaw table. Archie sitting next to her just shrugged.
“He said that her mother’s sick.”
“Well he has a very sick mother.” Betty muttered. “This is exactly what happened two months ago.”
She waved her friend at Slytherin table as she left her spot. “I’m gonna talk to Ronnie about this.”
Hearing Veronica’s name, Archie also left his spot alongside Betty as she moved to the Slytherin table.
“Jug’s gone again.” she stated. The raven haired girl sighed as she searched the whole Ravenclaw table.
“Yes, Betty.” she said. “Are you still suspecting the same thing?”
“What thing?” Archie asked. Veronica pulled his arm as the three of them found a more silent corner in the hall.
“Our very own Betty Cooper here,” Veronica started, “has a suspicion about Jughead’s absence.”
Archie glanced at Betty as the blondie crossed her arms at her chest.
“Well… I may have calculated the times of Jughead’s excuses.” she murmured. “And… he is always gone during the full moon.” She lowered her voice in the last phrase.
“So?” Archie asked and then the idea sinked in. “No! You are not saying he’s -- he’s a… werewolf ?
“Hush!” Betty warned him as she looked around to check if someone’s near to eavesdrop. “But yes,” she murmured. “That’s the idea.”
Archie seemed shocked for a minute but then pulled himself together.
“But what are we gonna do about it? Does the teachers know about this?”
“Dumbledore must.” Veronica murmured. “Somehow he knows everything, right? But Archie’s right, Betty, what are we going to do?”
Betty sighed and thought about the whole messed up situation.
“I’m going to talk to him.” she declared. “So that he won’t be scared of our attempt. And we’ll keep his secret.”
“Of course we will.” Archie joined her. “We are his best friends.”
“Only friends, for that matter.” Veronica corrected him.
- ••
Jughead seemed tired to Betty -- even more tired than the summer. The bags under his stormy blue eyes were wider and he walked as the world was on his shoulders. He was sitting by the lake as he promised to Betty with a book beside him. He didn’t seem to be interested in the book since he was watching the lake with wondering eyes. When Betty sat beside him, he lifted his head and smiled.
“What’s up with the secrecy, Betts?” he teased.
Softly smiling, Betty offered him a Chocolate Frog.
“How’s your mum?” she asked. Jughead swallowed as he opened the tread and nodded.
“Fine, going back to USA, I guess.”
Betty wasn’t expecting to hear this.
“What?” she asked in confusion. “What USA?”
Jughead shrugged and ate a piece of his chocolate as he disregarded the Dumbledore card in it.
“She’s from there. Said her folks missed her.”
“But--” Betty stopped in the middle of her sentence and studied Jughead. “Juggie,” she said in the softest voice. “Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?”
Jughead’s expression wasn’t readable.
“Jug--”
“What do you want to know?” He asked as if he was surrendering.
“I know it. Jughead. The reason why you disappear so often during school days. During the full moon days, to be honest.”
Now the expression was pure fear.
“What do you mean?” he bubbled. “I don’t understand this--”
Beth sighed as an irritated expression took over her face.
“Just tell me the truth, Jug, please.”
Jughead’s face got darkened a bit before he answered the question.
“I was five and my window was open.” he said. “Dad’s always been a nasty fighter and one of his gang members… he was angry at dad and my window was open because it was summer and… I don’t remember much of that night.”
Betty covered her mouth as she let out a scared grasp. Jughead wasn’t able to even look at her and poking the soil beneath them with a stick.
“I am so sorry, Juggy.” she murmured as if she was about to cry. Finally, the boy with the crown shaped beanie lifted his head and tried to smile.
“I understand if you don’t want to talk to me ever again, Betts, but please don’t--”
“Archie and Veronica know too.” she blurted. “I wasn’t the only one suspecting this but they swore that they won’t tell anyone because you are our friend, Juggie.”
It wasn’t the first time Betty hugged him nor the last one for that matter but it was the very first time Jughead actually acknowledged the warmth she was so willing to give him, it was the very first time he believed that he is actually loved.
So he hugged her a little bit tighter.